Police Response to Domestic Violence (From Crisis Intervention in Criminal Justice/Social Service, Fourth Edition, P 102-124, 2006, James E. Hendricks, Bryan D. Byers, eds., -- See NCJ-215593)

• NCJ Number: 215597
• Author(s): Michael G. Breci
• Date Published: 2006
• Length: 23 pages
• Sale Source: Charles C. Thomas
• Publication Format: Book Chapter
• Publication Type: Curriculum
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter describes the police response to domestic violence from the 1950s to the 1990s.

Abstract

The police are generally the first responders to domestic violence situations and, as such, the decisions made by officers at the scene greatly impact the perpetrator, victim, and their children. The traditional police response to domestic violence is reviewed, which can be described as one of “noninvolvement.” A lack of specific legislation, police policies, and crisis intervention training specific to domestic violence contributed to an environment during the 1960s and 1970s in which domestic violence was considered a noncriminal, private matter outside of the domain of the criminal justice system. Research and activism in the late 1970s changed the societal perspective of domestic violence, casting it as a violent crime harmful to women, children, and society in general. The service perspective, in which police fashion interventions to the needs of the particular situation, gained momentum in the mid-1970s which spurred police training on the nature and consequences of domestic violence. However, police training for domestic violence began to decline by the 1980s as a “get tough” approach was adopted. The arrest perspective emerged during this time as a response to police under-enforcement in cases of domestic violence, resulting in the widespread use of preferred and mandatory arrest policies across the country. The research on these policies, however, indicated that arrest in the absence of followup interventions was not necessarily producing reduction in domestic violence recidivism. Finally, the police response in the 1990s is considered, which largely combined the service and arrest perspectives to produce a response that incorporated the efforts of police and other community agencies. This approach combines a legal response with intervention programming that may include men’s anger control groups, alcohol and drug treatments, and diversion programs. The chapter concludes with discussion questions, simulated exercises, and a listing of Internet resources. Appendix, references